1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a combination connector formed by combining male and female connectors with each other with a plurality of female connectors, held by a holding member, engaged by a plurality of male connectors and more particularly to a connector preferably used to be set in an electronic unit for connecting with a wire harness mounted in a car body.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, a car body is equipped with more and more electronic parts. Thus, a wire harness has more and more circuits. As a result, wire harnesses are increasingly connected with one connector. The more wire harnesses are mounted on one connector, the more a load to be applied to connectors increases in engaging the female connector and the male connector with each other, which causes a problem in operation. In addition, they are liable to be combined with each other incompletely. As a result, electric parts connected with the connector via the wire harness may not work.
The above-described problem occurs when a large number of wire harnesses are connected with one connector having many terminal-accommodating chambers. But if the number of wire harnesses to be connected with one connector is reduced, it is necessary to combine many male and female connectors with each other. As a result, the combining operation takes much time and labor. Further, it is necessary to provide a mechanism for holding male connectors and female connectors, respectively. Thus, the connector-holding construction is complicated and the connector-installing space increases. This is a problem in an electronic unit in which connectors are required to be intensively disposed.
This problem may be solved as follows: That is, a plurality of female connectors respectively, to be connected with a small number of wire harnesses respectively, held by a holding member, is simultaneously combined with a plurality of male connectors held by another holding member. In this manner, time and labor and space for combining male and female connectors with each other can be reduced.
An example of a combination connector formed by the above-described manner is disclosed in Japanese Utility Model No. 3-20880.
In the connector, a plurality of first connectors is held by a plurality of connector-holding portions formed by concaving a first connector cover and similarly, a plurality of second connectors is held by a plurality of connector-holding portions formed by concaving a second connector cover. A bolt is inserted from an opening formed through the first connector cover into a bolt-guiding portion formed on the second connector. In this manner, the first and second connectors are fixed to each other with a plurality of pairs of the first and second connectors engaged with each other.
In the above-described combination connector, male and female connectors are fixed to each other by means of the bolt. Therefore, tools such as a bolt, washer, push nut are required as tightening parts. As a result, manufacturing cost is high and in addition, parts management is required. In addition, since the tightening parts are made of metal, the combination connector thus formed is heavy.
Load is great in engaging female and male connectors with each other because the first and second connector covers holding a plurality of connectors are fixed to each other by means of the bolt. Thus, a device for fixing them to each other such as an impact wrench is required and thus a troublesome operation is required.
Shocks are imparted to parts mounted on a unit equipped with a computer and others due to the use of the impact wrench in connecting the female and male connectors with each other and thus shocks are transmitted from the connectors to the unit, which gives a bad influence on a soldered portion of the unit or elements of the computer.
In addition, the conventional combination connector is connected with many terminals and thus terminals are likely to be inserted into an erroneous terminal-accommodating chamber in assembling wire harness.